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It’s a Cat! It’s a Flashlight!
In the “headlines that sound like a joke” department: South Koreans Clone Cats That Glow in the Dark I think the first paragraph in this article is incorrect, since it says that the researchers “have cloned cats by manipulating a fluorescent protein gene;” I expect what the reporter meant is that they’ve cloned cats which…
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Send Clarke Birthday Greetings
Arthur C. Clarke turns 90 on December 16, and the Sri Lanka Astronomical Association is collecting birthday wishes from his friends and fans. And as a big fan of his writing and admirer of his work, I have put up a blog where everyone could send him wishes for his 90th birthday. If you are…
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Pratchett Has Alzheimer’s
Well, this just sucks. Terry Pratchett has addressed an open letter to his fans with the news that he has a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Folks, I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed,…
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Tom Swift Movie to be Made (She Said Theatrically)
Tom Swift, the early-1900s boy genius, is coming to the big screen. The series has been optioned by Nickelodeon’s Albert Hecht, who’s behind the Jimmy Neutron cartoon. Since the series has run so long–it’s ghostwritten–Tom’s had a number of continuity reboots to keep his technology current: The first book was Tom Swift and His Motorcycle,…
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Evolution May be Speeding Up
You’d think that the ease of world travel would have an homogenizing effect on the human species, but new research suggests that the residents of various continents are becoming increasingly different from each other. If evolution had been proceeding steadily at the current rate since humans and chimps separated 6 million years ago there should…
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35 Years
Today makes 35 years since man has been to the moon. The last time humans were on the moon, I was the age that my son is now. I’m going to go sit in a corner and be depressed. ‘Scuse me.
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A Very O*W*C Christmas
Mad crafter FutureGirl recently created “Octophrost, Santa of the Sea,” a cute little octopoid ornament. A woman whom I can only describe as relentless requested the pattern so that she could make an ornament for each of her ninety-nine grandchildren and great-grandchildren (I guess I could also describe her as fertile). The result is a…
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Climate Skepticism Rebuttals
The BBC has put together a list of the most common arguments that “climate skeptics” use to refute the idea of global warming, along with a rebuttal for each. Sceptic Earth history shows climate has regularly responded to cyclical changes in the Sun’s energy output. Any warming we see can be attributed mainly to variations…
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B Movie Biology
The University of Chicago Library has an interesting article on the biology of B-Movie creatures such as shrinking men and giant ants. Sadly, the Cube-Square Law dooms Mothra to either buckled legs or serious instability in flight. Link
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HowTo: Elmo Cyborg
The ElmoSapien Project offers instructions for dressing a RoboSapien robot in the skin from an Elmo puppet like some sort of Muppety Ed Gein. The site includes “personality files” for the new hybrid, and even features a video of the thing in action. Just the thing to put under the tree for any small child…